According to the Heart Rate Watch Company there have been some serious limitations to making the iPhone into a bike computer, especially in full GPS mode. Chief among these limitations was the iPhones sub-two hour battery life because many cyclists like to go for rides of longer than two hours.

"The best device we tested last year for the iPhone for either cycling or running was the Wahoo Fitness Fisica Sensor Case", says Rusty Squire, President of the Heart Rate Watch Company, a U.S. based fitness electronics retailer. He continues, "The key breakthrough for this technology has been the addition of an auxiliary battery that more than triples iPhone battery life."

While many app developers had built operating platforms with all the best features this firmware became completely irrelevant without enough battery life. Wahoo Fitness just had their iPhone Auxiliary Battery come our for the Wahoo Fitness Fisica Sensor Case. This battery extends by several hours the battery life of an iPhone when it is in GPS mode.

"This now makes the iPhone a very viable alternative as a GPS bike computer with power output, full color mapping and screen resolution better than that of any bike computer", says Squire. He adds, "The only reason serious bike racers won't adopt this technology has to do with weight because the case, the iPhone and the auxiliary battery weigh in at about 1.25 pounds compared to about 2 ounces for the Garmin Edge 500." Of course not all cyclists are that careful about weight and if they are already bringing their iPhones anyway then subtract 8 ounces from these figures.

The bottom line is that for the modest weight differential of between one-half and three-quarters of one pound the iPhone can be converted into an awesome bike computer that does something no other bike computer does - it takes phone calls and texts. Perhaps the time for the iPhone bike computer has finally arrived.

With over 100 applications to choose from on the iTunes store there is no lack of creative energy working on the bike fitness solutions. Selecting the right app is similar to selecting an electronic device with the best firmware because this app will form the operating system of the device itself.

Until the 4th quarter of 2011 nobody had the technology available to allow the iPhone to last long enough for serious bike rides of longer than an hour and one-half, but now any iPhone owner can go ride 100 miles in GPS mode with battery to spare.

Finally, the last missing piece in the puzzle has arrived just in time to create iPhone bike packs that really work for Christmas 2011. "At the Heart Rate Watch Company we have actually designed a customized iPhone bike computer pack complete with the Fisica Sensor case, auxiliary battery, the Garmin cadence sensor and Garmin premium chest strap", says Squire.